We ride the last Friday of every month all year round. Meet at confederation park (elgin and laurier) at 5:30, ride leaves at 6pm!

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Friday, August 28, 2009

90% of cyclist deaths are caused by careless motorists.

An analysis of police reports on 2,752 bike-car accidents in Toronto found that clumsy or inattentive driving by motorists was the cause of 90 percent of these crashes. Among the leading causes: running a stop sign or traffic light, turning into a cyclist’s path, or opening a door on a biker. This shouldn’t come as too big a surprise: motorists cause roughly 75 percent of motorcycle crashes too. -- NYTimes

Drivers like to complain that cyclists are dangerous, but the numbers show where the real threat lies. Increase your visibility, get the attention of motorists and you're less likely to be run over. It's that simple.

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

The NY Times article and it's percentage quotes are a sham. The truth is that just like motorcycle riders, bike riders are often at fault for accidents. I would put the percentage at an even 50%. It's the riders job to stay out of trouble and if one is always having close calls in city traffic then they shouldn't be there.In Ottawa it's very rare to see a cyclist obey a stop sign or red light. This is why city cyclists will never get the respect some of them deserve. And it's also why CM rides are seen as little more than bullying and an opportunity for participating cyclists to say FU to the rest of the road users. This will achieve nothing.